“It’s Undercover Frills on Main. Do you know it?” Rika looked at Jordy, who promptly pulled out her phone, and started tapping at the screen. Meanwhile TraceyAnn’s eyebrows shot up.
“No, but I can find it.” Jordy said.
“Oh, thanks, but it won’t be necessary,” Lily said quickly, touched by Jordy’s offer. “When Miller picks up the twins, I’m sure it’ll be no problem for him to drop me off in town on his way.” And then she would ride home with Col. She did an internal somersault at the thought of it.
Strangely, Jordy screwed up her face as if she smelled something bad, before rearranging her features into a pleasant smile. Lily felt bad. Maybe she had been too quick to shut Jordy down when she was only trying to be helpful. But before she could apologize, the girl turned and left.
“I hear she’s in the doghouse with Puma.” TraceyAnn bellowed. Good lord, did the woman have no internal volume control?
Rika only smiled, refusing to divulge any information.
“Then it was really nice of her to drop by and offer that ride,” Lily said. “In fact, everyone has been so nice. I can’t thank you enough, Rika!”
“Don’t forget to thank Simon too. Undercover Frills is an amazing store,” TraceyAnn said, with a slight sneer. “I can’t imagine how incredible it would be to go there on an all-expenses paid shopping spree. And maybe next time he’ll foot the bill for whatever you want at the biggest jewelry store in town.”
Rika was quick to shut that down, as she noted Lily’s shocked expression. “Actually all of this is an expression of Simon’s gratitude to Katie, for the hard work that she’s been doing.” She gave TraceyAnn a firm look. “And I’m sure that’sallthat’s being said around the Faire, correct?”
TraceyAnn might be gossipy, but she wasn’t stupid. She flashed a pained smile at the HR Director, who had the power to hire—and fire —anyone at the Faire. “Of course. I’ve only heard nice things said about Katie. And of course I’veonlysaid nice things about Katie.”
“Of course,” Rika echoed. But her tone made it clear that if she found evidence to the contrary, she would be swift to act.
Puma wasn’t the only one who kept a doghouse.
* * *
Simon found himself in a highly unusual situation. He didn’t think he had ever been in a position to give another guy advice on how to act on a date. And yet, here he was, with a guy that was almost twice his size, total date-bait, who was hanging on his every word about how to treat Katie tonight, when they would finally be having dinner together — by themselves — for the first time. A dinner that, Simon could confess to himself deep down, he wished he were the one having with Katie.
He still had a crush on her, but after seeing the chemistry between Col and Katie, he had to admit there was something so right about it. They belonged together in a way that Simon hoped one day to find for himself.
Miller had picked out the clothes for Col to wear, with the help of Merek who was turning out to be the resident clothes horse. Although Aylwyn arguably came close at times.
As they were getting adjusted to the modern world, it had been interesting to see which facets of it drew their attention as individuals.
“She asked for the date, right? So that’s a good thing.” Well, at least Simon heard it was.
“If she had asked me to slay a dragon, it would be far easier to find one and vanquish it.” Col said, fussing with the tie that Merek had picked out.
“Are you talking about a dinner date, or putting on a tie?” Simon laughed, reaching out to help Col with the silk twill.
“Both,” Col grumbled.
“Well the tie I can help you with,” Simon did some intricate origami with the ends of the tie, before the semblance of a knot began to emerge. “As for the dinner, that means that she wants to get to know you better. Share an experience with you that you can enjoy together and maybe talk about afterwards.” In theory, that was.
He stepped back, pleased with his handiwork. Col was wearing a dark Hugo Boss suit that was beautifully cut, as was the cotton button-down shirt underneath. Not bad for some rush alterations earlier in the day.
“She wants to have dinner withyou, Col. So just be yourself, and you’ll do fine.”
“But who else would I be?” Col was genuinely perplexed.
Simon smiled, adjusted the lapels of the jacket. “It’s an expression. It means that she already likes you for who you are, for all the things that make you who you are. She just wants a chance to get to know more about those things.”
“Ah,” Col nodded. “That is good. We should have no more secrets between us, now that she knows about our wolf natures.”
“That’s right, it’s important to start off relationships with honesty.”
“Honesty,” Col dipped his head, cracked his neck. “Yes, honesty is essential.”
If only Simon knew, he was going to regret saying those words to Col much later that night.
